Biden: “I’m absolutely comfortable” with gay marriage

posted at 12:38 pm on May 7, 2012 by Erika Johnsen

While Team Obama eagerly engages in various campaigns of misdirection to get people talking about anything other than the president’s terrible economic performance, it looks like last week’s flap concerning the resignation of the Romney camp’s openly gay staffer presented Team Obama an opportunity to work on their own gay-marriage messaging. Sending out their top scout to determine the lay of the land, Vice President Biden elucidated his own views on gay marriage on Sunday’s Meet the Press:

“Look, I am vice president of the United States of America. The president sets the policy. I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties. And quite frankly, I don’t see much of a distinction beyond that.”

It would be way too controversial of an election-year flip-flop for President Obama himself to directly endorse gay marriage, so the White House is instead crafting a careful image of a reserved-yet-receptive president with “evolving” views who surrounds himself with sympathetic high-ranking personnel. Obama’s campaign is always quick to tout the repeal of DADT as a signature achievement, and Biden also pointed to some of his boss’s executive orders in support of gay rights, but Biden’s office insisted that the vice president’s words were not an endorsement in favor of gay marriage:

The seeming endorsement of gay marriage by the vice president quickly made news across the Twittersphere. Chuck Todd, reporter and political analyst for NBC News, tweeted that Biden had gone further than Obama on gay marriage. A spokesperson for Biden contacted Todd to clarify that Biden was not speaking for Obama. But, a top Obama campaign official seemed to suggest, via Twitter, that Obama held the same view.

“What VP said – that all married couples should have exactly the same legal rights – is precisely POTUS’s position,” David Axelrod responded to Todd via Twitter.

A spokesperson in Biden’s office sent an email to reporters saying that Biden’s position on gay marriage had not changed, but, like Obama, his position is “evolving.”

“The vice president was saying what the president has said previously – that committed and loving same-sex couples deserve the same rights and protections enjoyed by all Americans, and that we oppose any effort to rollback those rights. That’s why we stopped defending the constitutionality of section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act in legal challenges and support legislation to repeal it. Beyond that, the Vice President was expressing that he too is evolving on the issue, after meeting so many committed couples and families in this country,” the spokesperson wrote.

Gay-rights advocates lauded Biden’s outspokenness and encouraged President Obama to say as much, too — but, like many hot-button issues that excite separate groups within his base, actual hard-hitting decisions (or even just real-talk) will likely have to wait until 2013, if at all.

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Notice how Obama and Biden are NOT ASKED DIRECTLY about Ammendment One in North Carolina, expected to pass by a wide margin in a swing state. Obama was in North Carolina. He said not one word about it. The gay press is furious with him. Obama cannot lose them.

“I think ‘Will & Grace’ probably did more to educate the American public than almost anything anybody’s ever done.”

But…but…wasn’t VP Dan Quayle savaged because he used “Murphy Brown” as an example of the promotion of single motherhood on TV? And Candice Bergen, along with many other Hollywood and liberal types, derided VP Quayle by asserting it was a FICTIONAL character?

“Look, I am vice president of the United States of America. The president sets the policy. I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties. And quite frankly, I don’t see much of a distinction beyond that.”

Gee. Color me surprised.

This is what we get instead of statesmanship from these guys. Can’t see a distinction between holy matrimony and two guys buggering each other.

Gay marriage is a loser issue for Republicans. Americans are with the Democrats on this issue. Gay marriage also provides the opportunity to talk about Mormonism and how they believe marriage is between a man and a woman (since 1890)..before that you could have as many wives as you wanted. Obligatory discussion of Mitt’s relatives who fled to Mexico to practice polygamy.

Gay marriage is a loser issue for Republicans. Americans are with the Democrats on this issue. Gay marriage also provides the opportunity to talk about Mormonism and how they believe marriage is between a man and a woman (since 1890)..before that you could have as many wives as you wanted. Obligatory discussion of Mitt’s relatives who fled to Mexico to practice polygamy.

ZippyZ on May 7, 2012 at 12:52 PM

Really? So why is that gay marriage has never been passed as a law when put to a direct vote of the people? Only legislative action has ever been responsible for gay marriage becoming law.

If liberals that tv shows are great ways to educate the public, why don’t they support shows that put Americans in a positive light for the rest of the world to see?

Gays get “Will and Grace”. Christians get “Good Christian Bitches”. This is just more proof that liberals know exactly what they’re doing when they use tv to promote hate against conservatives, Christians, and Southerners.

Correct me if I’m wrong but don’t most gay people absolutely hate that show, particulary because of Jack? Any of our gay commentors out there know if this is true?

DethMetalCookieMonst on May 7, 2012 at 12:53 PM

Jack and karen were funny for about a minute, then it was just overload and obnoxious and stupid. just like the show. as a gay person, i don’t need to see a gay character showhorned into every mpovie, t.v. show, etc. i’m already gay, and trust me, i could give 2 sh_ts about it 95% of the time.

Darn it. I should have referenced “GCB” instead of spelling it out to avoid the spam trap.

Anyways, as I said, this just shows that liberals know exactly what they’re doing when they use tv to promote hate against conservatives, Christians, and Southerners.

And why don’t they support shows that portray Americans in a positive light for the rest of the world to see? Why do they believe that only Americans need to be more tolerant? Why don’t other cultures also need to be more tolerant of us?

Obama/Biden aren’t going there until after November. Flexibility and all that.

Bitter Clinger on May 7, 2012 at 12:58 PM

‘xactly – they are fooling the fools for votes. It’s the same as with Medvedev “wait until the re-election…I’ll have more flexibility then”…then they’ll promptly forget about it or go full blast executive order.

“I think ‘Will & Grace’ probably did more to educate the American public than almost anything anybody’s ever done.”

Let me get this straight, within one hour I’ve learned that dinosaur farts caused global climate change and the Vice President of the United States is basing his policies from a fictional television sitcom?

*whimper*

I need to lie down. Please wake me when Barak and the gang have safely embarked AF 1 back in Chicago on January 20, 2013.

… on how gay men have impeccable fashion sense, worship Cher, speak with a nasal voice and a lisp, are limp-wristed, are interminably obsessed with show tunes, relate more to femininity than masculinity…

… did Will and Grace educate the American public that long-time gay cliches are normal behavior and not stereotypes?

Sean Hayes was hand-picked for the role of his life portraying Jerry Lewis, and this show is what everyone is going to remember (and probably typecast) him for. Tragic.

Obama and his handlers are scared to death of the gay marriage issues. If you look back to the voting in California, Proposition 8, a majority of blacks and Hispanics voted in favor of banning gay marriage. Obama’s far left is pressing him out on a cliff his political handlers want to avoid prior to the election.

“What VP said – that all married couples should have exactly the same legal rights – is precisely POTUS’s position,” David Axelrod responded to Todd via Twitter.

It’s Romney’s postion, too. Next.

Romney eviscerated that tool at the debate who tried to corner him on this issue. After Romney eloquently defended the rights of homosexual as individuals, affirmed the rights of gay couples to have the same legal protections as straight couples, while correctly asserting that marriage as an institution is the union of a man and a woman, the tool asked him, “So, when was the last time you stood up and spoke up for gay rights?”

Romney: “Just now.”

Unless POTUS comes out in full support of same-sex marriage, this is a dead issue for Democrats.

Did he just say heterosexual men should be allowed to marry each other? That somehow demeans marriage ever further. Why not e-marriages or facebook marriages where the two consenting parties never have or will be within 2000 miles of each other? On what basis do you disallow that?